Elektron Musical Instruments

Thanks for the response Daniel - it's a very tough issue and you have 
made your point clear enough although I disagree on a number of 
fundamental points though all the same and because I initiated the 
timing thread I felt it only fair that I respond after so much 
healthy and, at times, heated debate.

I don't think there is any 'magic' beat box feel - vintage or 
contemporary. What gives any rhythmic pattern 'feel' is how we 
anticipate where sounds fall in time and because every individual 
hears subjectively it makes practical analysis and criticism of 
timing performance in sequencers very difficult. This I well 
understand.

What I do feel strongly is that adding any random element to 
step/event placement in any sequencing device does not create feel. 
All it serves to do is blur the edges of the groove. 

The exact opposite applies when deliberate Push/Pull placement of 
steps/events against a strict quantised tempo grid is used to 
customise feel - pushed hats, late snares and of course shuffle/swing.

You use rigidity as a way of describing the interest many musicians 
have in tighter event timing and suggest using computers for such 
tasks. The term rigidity has negative connotations for most musicians 
but I must stress again that a desire for precision and consistency 
in sequencing is not about rigidity or stiffness at all. Quite the 
reverse in fact.

Feel is all about rhythmic anticipation – and that very human 
anticipation demands that if a snare is deliberately placed 5 ticks 
late it must always sound 5 ticks late to faithfully maintain the 
groove. The potential feel in any rhythm becomes less focused when 
the snares fall 3 ticks late sometimes and 7 ticks late other times 
in a pattern or loop when the timing variation is of a random nature. 

This is not human feel. It is not feel in any sense because the 
timing variation is random – this is simply software and hardware not 
keeping time.

Remember that my initial tests were not analytical to begin with – I 
could hear things shifting around which made me look closer. This was 
something I could hear.

If you had implemented a secret 'groove template' in the SPS-1 I 
could appreciate that to a point although I would have liked an 
option to switch it off. What leaves me unconvinced is the random 
nature of the push/pull. If it was a deliberate process to add 
a 'feel template' - wouldn't the step push/pull variation be 
consistent across a complete pattern? 

I guess I am a little disappointed as I love what the MD can do and 
had hoped the timing could be straightened out a little.

At the end of the day – it's a very beautiful machine and makes 
beautiful music. That was never in any doubt. I just asked the 
question to see if it could be tightened up a little.

Regards and deep respect as always,

David.